Anyone out there taking on the monumental task of preparing Thanksgiving dinner all by yourself? (God bless anyone who tackles that meal alone.) Anyone contributing a side dish or a dessert to a Thanksgiving meal prepared by someone else? My family usually opts for a potluck style Thanksgiving. Everyone has the dishes that they are good at and we've found that if we all combine our efforts, it diversifies the work load on Thanksgiving Day. My family prefers a very traditional Thanksgiving meal. They don't like to stray too much from the traditional roast turkey and classic sides like traditional stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, jellied cranberry sauce and yeast rolls. I once tried swapping traditional mashed potatoes for a more elegant twice baked potato dish. (Let's just say, that idea went over like a lead balloon. I have yet to get over the scorn from my family after they had been deprived of mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving Day circa 1995.) I wont even mention the year that I went rogue on my green bean casserole. I'll be trying out some of my Thanksgiving recipes this week on my family. Just my way of working out the kinks before the big day. I'll be roasting a turkey this week, experimenting with some roasted vegetables and a skillet green bean casserole. I'm anxious to see what kind of reactions I get from my family to my non-traditional Thanksgiving dishes. (I'll let you know.) Tuesday - Tuscan Turkey and Roasted Sheet Pan Vegetables Wednesday - Black Bean Burgers Thursday - Ribs and Skillet Green Bean Casserole Friday - Sheet Pan Beef and Black Bean Nachos I'm kind of excited about having some extra turkey in the house this week. My family might be tired of turkey before we even get to Thanksgiving but as far as I'm concerned, we can never have too much turkey.
I hope that you have a great week. Ciao!
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I don't know anyone who really LOVES to wash dishes. It's not my LEAST favorite job - it ranks above dishwasher clearing and putting away laundry - but I can think of a whole lot of things that I would rather do INSTEAD of washing dishes. THAT is the reason that I love one pot dinners. One pot = less dish washing = happy momma. This butterflied chicken with smashed potato recipe is one of my favorite new one pot meals. Butterflied Chicken 4 pound whole chicken 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick 1 3/4 cups water 4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
Place pan in 450 oven and roast until internal temperature reaches 165. (About 50 minutes.) Place chicken on platter. Spoon potatoes into bowl, removing smashed garlic. Smash. I hope that the raw chicken pictures didn't gross you out too much but honestly, the process of butterflying a chicken is easier to explain with pictures. It's easier than you think to butterfly a whole chicken - give it a try - you might be surprised at how easy it is. I think you're gonna like this recipe - I sure do.
Ciao! Have you ever tried the Lemon Chicken Orzo soup at Panera? It is seriously good. (Why is it that every time I find something at a restaurant that I REALLY like, they take it off the menu? ) Apparently lemon chicken orzo is a seasonal item and only available for a very limited time in the Fall. What is a girl to do when her favorite soup is only available for a month? (Make a copycat recipe of my own of course so I don't have to wait until next Fall to have some more.) Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 2 large (or 3 small) carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick 2 celery stalks, thinly sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated 8 cups of fat-free low sodium chicken broth Zest and juice (about 1/3 of a cup) of 2 lemons 1 bay leaf 1 1/4 cups orzo pasta about 2 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken a couple of generous handfuls of fresh spinach Salt and pepper to taste Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large pot. Add carrots, celery, and onion and cook about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften.
Add the chicken and cook for a couple of minutes to allow it to heat through. Stir in spinach and allow it to wilt for about one minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When ready to serve, remove the bay leaf and serve. This is pretty close to the original version that I had at Panera. I might even be so bold as to say that my recipe might just be SLIGHTLY better than theirs. It is REALLY yummy. I tried to freeze some for another day and the orzo got a little mushy so my advice is to add the orzo later if you plan to freeze this soup.
Ciao! I consume so much avocado that I think I might actually start to turn green one day. I eat a couple of slices of avocado with my egg for breakfast every morning, I eat a few more slices on my sandwich for lunch and now I'm starting to incorporate it into our dinners. I love the flavor and the creamy texture of avocados. They just seem to make food, taste better. I found this recipe for Grilled Shrimp Tostadas with Lime in my Cooking Light magazine and as usual - I modified the original recipe slightly. Grilled Shrimp Tostadas with Lime 1 pound shrimp 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon cumin 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt Black Bean Salsa 2 Tablespoons red onion 1/4 cup chopped cilantro 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar 1 clove garlic, mined 1/4 teaspoon salt 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed Avocado Dip 1/4 cup plain yogurt 1 teaspoon lime juice 1 peeled avocado 1 cup chopped tomato 8 corn tortillas
Grill shrimp in a grill basket. To build your tostada, start with a tortilla. Add a spoonful of avocado dip. Top with a spoonful of black bean salsa. Top with shrimp. This was a great summer meal. We had leftover black bean salsa AND leftover avocado dip - which made awesome snacks for the next day.
Ciao! Ever have one of those "I feel unappreciated" days? It happens every now and then when I feel like my family isn't giving me the recognition that I think I deserve. It really has very little to do with them and everything to do with me. It's more about my interpretation of their behavior than their actual lack of appreciation. (How could they possibly fail to notice when I clean the ceiling fan in the office?) I wouldn't say that my feelings aren't based on a certain amount of merit though. My husband once told friends that we had special grout in our shower that stayed clean all by itself and never needed scrubbing!?! Seriously?? Did he really think that we had some kind of a magic shower? Meanwhile, I'm spending hours of my time scrubbing grout, week after week so that we can have a clean shower. I take a lot of grief for making my family eat so many vegetables too. One day I hope that my kids will appreciate the fact that I introduced them to so many different vegetables when they were growing up. I am on a constant quest to find new ways to get my family to eat vegetables and I serve a LOT of them. My new favorite vegetable recipe is roasted broccoli. It's easy to prepare, it's great for a crowd AND it's a vegetable that my family actually likes. Roasted Broccoli 1 and ½ pounds broccoli crowns (roughly 2 heads) ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 3 garlic cloves, pressed pinch of dried red pepper flakes ½ teaspoon kosher salt 3 tablespoons raw, sliced almonds 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 2 – 3 tablespoons freshly grated aged pecorino-romano cheese
Add broccoli and toss to coat. Place broccoli and foil lined baking sheet. Roast broccoli 10-12 minutes at 475. Flip and sprinkle with almonds. Roast 10 minutes longer. Transfer broccoli to a platter and drizzle with lemon juice. Sprinkle with cheese. What about you? What makes you feel unappreciated? I assume that we all feel under-appreciated at one point or another. Share your stories in the comments. Anyone else out there with a magic shower?
Ciao! |
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